Cohen and Sullivan strike gold
Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan have won New Zealand’s first gold medal of the 2012 Olympics with a magnificent
come-from-behind victory in the men’s double sculls at Eton Dorney.
The win set off scenes of jubilation and delight among a large group of New Zealand supporters at the rowing venue.
Cohen and Sullivan, the world champions in 2010 and 2011, looked to be struggling early in the final, but timed their
run home to perfection and ended up winning with room to spare.
“It’s better to win ugly than not all,” said a delighted Cohen, 26, afterwards.
Sullivan, 25, said: “I didn’t expect this, but everything came together.”
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There were good results from other New Zealand crews on the water too.
Emma Twigg qualified comfortably for the women’s single sculls final finishing third in her semi-final, behind
impressive Dane Fie Erichsen and Chinese Xiuyun Zhang.
Storm Uru and Peter Taylor, men’s lightweight double sculls world champions in 2009, and place-getters at the last two
world champs, also moved comfortably into the final.
470 make strong Olympic debut
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Paul Snow Hansen and Jason Saunders made their Olympic debut in the Men’s 470 class on day five of the Olympic Sailing
competition, and already they are positioned well near the top of the fleet.
The other young men’s pairing of Peter Burling and Blair Tuke weren’t quite on the previous days’ form, scoring ninth
and eleventh in their two races inside Portland Harbour. They are now ranked third overall as the home GBR team won both
of the 49er races, shuffling the points around the lead pack.
Another record swim by Boyle
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Lauren Boyle has continued her fine Olympic campaign by qualifying fifth for the women’s 800m freestyle final and
breaking her own New Zealand record along the way.
The Aucklander’s time of 8min 25.91s chipped 0.39s of her national record.
Melissa Ingram just missed progressing to the women’s 200m backstroke semi-finals.
Daniel Bell was not a factor in the men’s 100m butterfly. Bell managed 53.76s to be the 37th fastest of the 43 starters.
Team pursuit with medal chance
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The New Zealand men’s team pursuit squad have a good chance of a medal at the Olympic velodrome.
The squad of Sam Bewley, Westley Gough, Marc Ryan and Jesse Sergent recorded 3min 57.607s to finish third in the
qualifying round, behind Great Britain, who set a world record, and Australia.
The New Zealanders will ride off against Australia, with the winner to contest the gold medal ride. If the New
Zealanders lose to Australia, they will need to be among the next fastest qualifiers to get themselves a ride for the
bronze.
The other New Zealand cyclists in action today, Ethan Mitchell, Eddie Dawkins and Simon van Velthooven, ended up leaving
the velodrome empty-handed, but can be proud of their fifth place efforts.
Luuka Jones 14th
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Luuka Jones was disappointed with herself after finishing 14th in the women’s K1 canoe slalom at Lee Valley.
Jones, 23, qualified 15th for the semi-finals, but found herself outgunned.
Hill struggles in dressage
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New Zealand’s sole representative in the Olympic dressage, Louisa Hill, has struggled to find her best form at Greenwich
Park.
Hill, riding Antonello, managed a score of 65.258 per cent, when she was looking for a score much closer to 70 per cent.
Hockey women lose 2-1
/The New Zealand women’s hockey team suffered the first loss of their Olympic campaign when they went down 2-1 to world
champions Argentina.
The result leaves the Black Sticks with six points after three matches and wanting a good result in their next match,
against the United States, to give themselves a solid chance of progressing to the semi-finals.
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